a bond or connection, as of affection, kinship, mutual interest, or between two or more people, groups, nations, or the like:

family ties; the ties between Britain and the U.S.

23.

a state of equality in the result of a contest, as in points scored, votes obtained, etc., among competitors:

The game ended in a tie.

24.

a match or contest in which this occurs.

25.

any of various structural members, as beams or rods, for keeping two objects, as rafters or the haunches of an arch, from spreading or separating.

26.

Music. a curved line connecting two notes on the same line or space to indicate that the sound is to be sustained for their joint value, not repeated.

27.

Also called, especially British, sleeper. Railroads. any of a number of closely spaced transverse beams, usually of wood, for holding the rails forming a track at the proper distance from each other and for transmitting train loads to the ballast and roadbed.

tie

n.

"that with which anything is tied," Old English teag, from Proto-Germanic *taugo (cf. Old Norse taug "tie," tygill "string"), from PIE *deuk- "to pull, to lead" (cf. Old English teon "to draw, pull, drag;" see duke (n.)).

Figurative sense is recorded from 1550s. Meaning "equality between competitors" is first found 1670s, from notion of a connecting link (tie-breaker is recorded from 1961). Sense of "necktie, cravat" first recorded 1761. The railway sense of "transverse sleeper" is from 1857, American English.

v.

Old English tigan, tiegan, from the source of tie (n.). Related: Tied; tying. Tie-dye first attested 1904. Tie one on "get drunk" is recorded from 1951. In the noun sense of "connection," tie-in dates from 1934.